Published: May 06, 2008 10:56 pm            

ELECTION 2008: Jacobi takes Superior 2 primary; no competition yet for November vote

Jerry Jacobi could be back on the bench — this time in Clark County Superior Court No. 2 — following a win in the Democratic primary Tuesday night. He bested fellow challengers Drew Adams, Shelley Marble and Dan Moore.

Jacobi received 9,725 votes, or about 38 percent; Adams got 5,237 votes, or 20 percent; Marble got 5,592 votes or about 22 percent; and Moore received 5,023 votes, or about 20 percent. Jacobi currently has no Republican challenger heading into November’s general election.

If the phrase “Judge Jacobi” sounds familiar it’s because he previously was on the bench at Clark County Superior Court No. 1. He was defeated by now-Judge Vicki Carmichael in May 2006.

“One thing I was able to do is I spent the better part of two years since my last run, thinking about what we did right and what we did wrong [during the last campaign,]” he said after see votes come in his favor Tuesday night.

“It’s extremely difficult to run a court and a campaign,” he said. This time he was able to spend time traveling across the county, telling people about his positions. Since Superior No. 2 handles most of the felony drug cases in the county, that’s where the campaign focused.

“I simply made that my priority,” he said.

“I began the race accepting God’s will and the people’s judgment. I knew that tonight — win or lose — I was going to have a new career. Obviously Superior No. 2 was the option I was hoping for.”

Adams said it was name recognition that got Jacobi elected. People looked at the ballot and didn’t realize he was not an active judge, Adams said.

Additionally, he said, it was a matter of older voters versus younger voters.

“You got old voters that stay with the established system,” he said.

He said he believes he and Marble both did well with the younger crowd. Marble was unable to be reached for this story.

Asked whether another run was possible in the future, Adams replied: “Oh yeah. Put it in the paper. I’ll run against [Jacobi.]”

Moore said despite the returns, he felt good about the race he ran.

“I ran this campaign the way I really believe a judge’s campaign should be run: On the issues and upbeat.”

Moore said he believes he was able to get his message out and learned that there are many people in the county who may not be in and around the courthouse every day but have opinions about judicial issues.

“And that’s good,” he said. “I got to meet a heck of a lot of good people.”

        

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